A Goth In Howl's Moving Castle?
by Narshmallow
Summary: Sophie is a Goth finishing High School who lives in NYC. Her parents are abusive and she wishes she could be in fantasy world. Which of course happens. She is now in Howl's world and must help Howl break his curse or she may be cursed with loneliness. H S
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Careful What You Wish For…**

Sophie slammed the door of her bedroom and flopped on to her bed. She sighed as she let her backpack thump to the ground, _Why would ANYONE in the right mind create HOMEWORK! _She thought angrily.

_I'll do it all later . . . What could one day of missing homework honestly do to you Ms. Straight A student?_

Sophie was a straight A student though most people would be shocked to hear so. This was on the account that she was a Goth and for some unexplained reason people think your stupid when you are.

Sophie had dark lavender colored hair, which she dyed herself, was rather palelish, also had long legs, was 18 years old, and was a good height, 5 foot 4. At the moment she wore a leather jack that only reached to a few inches before her shoulder, a grey tank top with a zipper going down it, grey shorts that went 4 inches before her knee, grey tights that were see throughish, and a pair of leather boots she hadn't bothered to take off.

Sophie had a pretty rough life. For starters she had abusive parents that hit her all the time. Even when she did well in anything they hit her if they were drunk. Secondly, she was a major social outcast with only 2 friends. And finally, her parents were on the verge of kicking her out of the house. Soon she'd be homeless if she didn't get a FULL scholarship to ANYWHERE anytime soon.

She lay on her bed for a while just thinking. She looked at a book on her desk with a movie that was based on the book. _Howl's Moving Castle . . . God I wish I could be in a world like that where everything doesn't suck . . . _

She fell asleep on her bed; accidentally forgetting about anything she had to do . . . including her homework.

I woke up freezing cold. I went to pull up my blankets but when I did I came up with none. I realized that I was obviously sleeping on a floor, which was really weird considering I never fall on to the floor when I sleep. My eyes finally fluttered open. _Well this is definitely not my bedroom…_

I was standing in an ally way. It was not a typical one considering that there was no graffiti on it, which is really strange considering I'm from NYC, and the walls were made of some beige colored brick. I stood up and looked at my surroundings. There wasn't much to look at since it was the walls and I could see a little bit of sky from the opposite ends. I noticed a piece of paper tagged on to the wall a few feet a way. It read:

_It's official!_

_Ingrary is in war with Strangia!_

_Ingrary? STRANGIA? _I realized that I was not in my hometown (city?), let alone even in my country!

"Where the hell am I?" I whispered out loud.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

**A Mysterious Mysterious Stranger (Gee I wonder who it is?)**

(By the way, there are movie quotes. I don't own them! (obviously)I started to walk down the ally guessing at which way would be better to wander. (Honestly, I had no idea which way to go so I just guessed.) I kept walking until I came upon two oddly dressed men. They were obviously soldiers but the uniforms were so bright, they could hardly be practical in any way for hiding from and enemy. The outfit basically sceamed, "HEY IF YOU'RE MY ENEMY, SHOOT HERE!"

"Well it looks like a little mouse got lost." One of them said.

"Well it looks like some creeper is trying to flirt," I retorted.

"You're rather feisty for a mouse," The other responded.

"Your rather ass holeish for a soldier."

"Now, now is that polite for a lady to say? What's your age anyhow?" Said the first one.

"None of you business Jack Ass."

"The mouse is cute when she's angry, and is also cute in that odd outfit." answered the second. What's so odd about what I'm wearing? Sure goth isn't extremely popular, but it wasn't odd to find someone in this sort of outfit.

"Like your one to talk. Now, would you kindly get the fuck out of the way?" I said angrily.

"What did I say about cursing?"

"Could you please just get out of the way?" My voice turned into a plea. DAMN IT!

"Wouldn't you like to get a drink or two?" Asked the second smirking at finally making me nervous (WHICH WAS CREEPERISH).

I was starting to feel desperate. They were both starting to walk forward. I stepped back and felt someone's arm come around me, "Sorry I'm late I've been looking everywhere for you."

I looked up to find myself in the arms (or arm) of blonde haired man. His hair reached his shoulders, yet it didn't seem girly. It rather suited him. He wore a loose white shirt with black pants.

"Hey get out of here!" one of them said.

"I believe you'll be getting out of here." They stood up higher and then marched away in sync.

"Don't worry, they won't bother you anymore. Now where are you going? I shall be your escort today," He said in his deep voice.

"I'm not really going anywhere. Would you believe me if told you I just woke up and found myself here?" I asked hoping I didn't sound too insane.

His eyes widened slightly, "I believe you, but here's not the place to chat about it. Don't get alarmed but I'm being followed. Act normal."

Let me tell you: acting 'normal' when you wake up in an ally in some random country you've never heard about is NOT SO EASY!

I heard weird swishing noises and saw these men that were giant masses of black blobs. I gasped silently.

"Sorry, looks like your involved." The man said not sounding very worried at all, "This way," Our speed picked up a bit as we turned into a different path.

Suddenly we started running from them, when a whole ton of them blocked the way ahead of us.

"Hold on," He said as he scooped me up into his arms and then projected us into the air!

"Now stretch out your legs and walk." He said as we floated in the air.

"Holy Crap! How the hell is this possible?" I practically yelled.

He laughed at my 'foul' language and said, "Never heard of magic?"

"Magic's real?" I said as we took a leisure stroll through the air. Yup, nothing weird about that at all.

"Of course! Are you from a place where there isn't any?" He asked sounding slightly shocked.

"Not that I know of."

"Interesting. Where are you from?"

"NYC." I responded almost automatically.

"NYC?"

"New York City? The Big Apple?" I asked looking at him as if he was insane, "You've never heard of New York City?"

"Where is it?"

"New York. Duh!"

"Never heard of that. Is it a country?"

"Hardly, it's a state in the United States."

"The United States? Never heard of that either." He said quite calmly.

"How have you never heard of the United freaking States?"

"Is that a big shot country where you're from?"

I looked at him again as if he was insane.

"I'll take that as a yes," He said chuckling.

"What's so funny?" I asked curiously.

"Oh nothing."

We kept walking till I realized we were far from the ally. When I looked down there was only fields and a small strip of brown, probably a road.

"This is all so familiar yet I don't know why . . ." I thought out loud.

We were headed towards a grayish area. The land seemed dead yet there were was grass growing. Suddenly a huge metal contraption walked into my sight.

"A moving castle? That's it!" I yelled as everything clicked into place.

"What do you mean?"

"A moving castle! As in _Howl's Moving Castle! _Which means your Howl!" I said when realization dawned to me about whom I was walking with.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"How do you know that?" Howl asked shocked that this woman could possibly know who he was.

"Because theirs a whole book _and _Movie based on you. Wait a minute! Is you're apprentice named Markl?" Sophie asked curiously.

"Yes."

"Ok and who were you apprenticed to when you were younger?"

"Madam Sulliman," He replied confused on why she was asking.

"Ok then we're in the world based on the movie . . ." _Thank God! Howl is such a bastard in the book. Wait a minute! I should have been able to tell who he was based on the fact that we walked_ _in the sky! _She thought mentally slapping herself in the face.

"Well we have to land now. We're almost at my castle." He said breaking Sophie's thoughts.

She nodded still deep in thought on how much of an idiot she was.

Sophie and Howl landed on the soft ground in front of where the door was. Howl opened the door and very courteously said, "Lady's first."

"Thank you," Sophie said excitement of going into the moving castle.

She was slightly disappointed. The place was an absolute mess. _Oh right! The place is a mess before Sophie cleans it. _

"Hello Calcifer nice to meet you!" Sophie said to the fire demon.

"How in the world do you know that's his/my name?" Howl and Calcifer said at the same time.

"Anyone who's seen the movie knows who he is," Sophie said.

"What's a movie?" Howl asked.

"Oh god I forgot! There's no such thing as a movie now," She muttered, "Don't worry about that!" Sophie said audibly, "What matters is why the hell I'm here."

"How did you get here?" Howl asked. Sophie was about to begin when there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" yelled a voice from upstairs. Markl ran down cloak in hand. He wrapped it around his shoulders and pulled down a beard.

"Porthaven door." Calcifer announced.

"Stand by!" Markl said in a deep voice. He turned the dial to blue and opened the door. A man in fancy attire stood there.

"Would this be the home of the Wizard Jenkins?" He asked mustache quivering.

"Why yes it is," Markl replied.

"Here is an Invitation to the king. All wizards must help in this time of war. Good day sir."

"And a good day to you," He closed the door, "Now who are you?"

"I am Sophie Hatter thank you very much. It's nice to meet you Markl."

"Are you a witch?" He asked astounded by her knowledge of his name.

"No! I saw the . . . never mind. But anyway, I was about to say that,"

A knock rang through the house. "Howl, I would sit down if I were you we're going to be interrupted at least one more time after this." Sophie said

Howl raised his eyebrows but sat down at the cluttered table anyway after pulling out a chair for Sophie.

"Porthaven Door again," Calcifer declared.

"It's a customer, a girl picking up a spell for her mother. It's for a boat." Sophie said.

"Huh, Stand by!" Markl pulled down the beard and grabbed the spell the girl would ask for.

"Yes my dear child?"

"I'm here to pick up a spell for our boat."

"Here you go! I was just working on it," Markl handed her the spell.

"Thank you!" She paid him and left.

"How did you know that was going to happen?" Howl asked before Calcifer or Markl.

"You mean like how I know about the knock that's about to happen from the Kingsbury door?" Sophie replied.

"What-" Calcifer was interrupted by a knock at the door, "Kingsbury Door," he said slowly in shock of her prediction.

"Soldier asking for Wizard Pendragon. Invitation for the king, time of war, all wizards to assist, yada yada yada." Sophie said nonchalantly.

"Stand by," Markl said twisting the knob to red. Everyone was on high alert to see if Sophie's prediction was correct.

"Would this be the home of the great Wizard Pendragon?" The soldier asked as Sophie mouthed the words to Howl.

"Why yes it is."

"I have here an invitation to from the king saying that all witches and wizards must report to the castle to offer their services to assist in the war." Sophie mouthed every word perfectly.

"Why thank you I shall give it to him right away." Markl said and closed the door.

Everyone stared at Sophie for five minutes.

"What's next?" Howl asked.

"Well, no one from the door, but that's because this is different from what I saw in the movie."

"You never explained what that is."

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT! What's important is the fact that I am here and not in my dimension/time period/God knows what. I don't even know how I got here!"

"Well how did you get here?" Howl asked.

"I came home from school after having a really crummy day. Luckily my parents were home so I went directly to my bedroom. I then fell asleep and woke up in the ally way where I was then rescued by you and brought back here." Sophie said, "Oh but before waking up in the ally way I did wish if I could go to fantasy world like the one in the book and movie _Howl's Moving Castle . . . _But there's no way just wishing got me here."

Howl closed his eyes in thought. "I got nothing to why you're here Sophie, do you Calcifer?"

Calcifer pondered that for a second. "Yeah no."

"Well, whatever. I guess the better question is what to do now." Sophie said.

"I guess we'll have to send her back to her world, do you know how to do that Master Howl?" Markl asked.

"I don't know, Sophie why don't you try wishing yourself back to your world, maybe it'll work," Howl said with a shrug.

Sophie sat their and tried to wish her self back to her terrible world where she was treated like crap, where she had two friends, where she was barely fed, and where her parents abused her. Her eyes drooped and she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sophie lay flopped on a bed. She felt her over grown bangs tickling her closed eyes. _Hmm why does my bed actually feel comfortable? _

"CRAP IM GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Sophie jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. She combed her hair with her hands while running towards the door.

"Um Sophie?" asked Howl trying not to laugh.

"WHAT IM GOING TO BE LATE HOWL!" She yelled and then realized something, "Oh right, other world. Wait a minute, why am I still here!" She took a seat in front of him at the cluttered table.

"I'm not sure why," He pushed his blonde hair behind his ear, "Did you do _exactly _what you did before?

"Umm, well, not exactly . . ." Sophie said slightly embarrassed looking away.

"What do you mean?" Howl said. He was staring at her long enough to make her turn around. Which she did. _Damn it! I didn't know he could be so intense. _She got caught in his stare. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest. _Damn he really is hot! _

He picked up a mug and took a sip of his coffee. Breaking the connection. Sophie sighed, "It's not easy to wish yourself back into a crappy life."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

Sophie's bangs covered her eyes, "What were your parents like?"

"They were nice enough. Well until they died," He looked a little sorrowful at the last part, "But what does that have to do with having a crappy life?"

"My dad's an alcoholic, my mom's no different. Can you pass me a napkin?" Sophie asked.

Howl passed it to her confusion clear on his face.

"Well, when your drunk," Sophie turned away from him and started clean off some cover up from the other side of her face, "your judgment is rather off," She finished and turned towards him, and his eyes widened in shock, "so your likely to make 'mistakes'."

Howl couldn't respond. The bruise on her cheek was terrible. It was an ugly shade of purple with green and yellow decorating it. Saying it looked painful would be the understatement of the century.

He leaned across the table and gently brushed her cheek. She winced at his touch. He took his hand away and then put it back with a green magic blazing on his finger tips. He then healed her cheek. "Is that better?" He asked softly.

"Yeah." She down.

Silence filled the room. Neither knew what to say. Finally, Sophie broke the silence.

"It was late at night. My parents were both completely wasted. My dad seemed in a bad mood and I was the one he decided to take it off on." A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"_Mom! Dad! Where have you been? It's 12 o'clock!" Sophie said concerned._

"_Oh would you relax! I'm the mom here!" Her mom said slurring every word._

"_Sometimes I wonder." Sophie muttered._

"_Don't back talk your mother!"_

"_But I-"_

_SLAP!_

_Her cheek was stinging and becoming a harsh red tone. Sophie refused to cry even though her tears were threatening to pool over. _

"_Dad-" She didn't get to finish. Her dad shoved her against the table. Hard. She thought she heard a crack when she slammed against the table._

_She fell and, of course, fell down on the side that was injured. She bit her lip to make sure that she didn't cry out. She got up and clutched her side as she walked up the stairs wincing in pain. _

"_Goodnight," she said quietly. Her parents weren't listening though. They were now making out. _

_She went into her room and finally tears rolled down her cheeks. She went into her bathroom and ran some hot water in her bathtub. She stripped her cloths and soaked in the hot water. The warmth helped the pain a little. This was how she basically treated all her wounds that made a cracking noise. Or anything worse._

Sophie finished explaining the story and Howl was shocked that anyone's parents could do that to their own child. Then he realized something.

"Hey wait, doesn't that mean your hip is still injured? If you heard a crack you could have fractured it . . . How are you still walking around? That must be extremely painful!"

"Well, yes but I'm used to it," she said.

"Here, I can heal it let me see."

Sophie lifted an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and shot him an icy look.

"What?" Howl asked.

"This is my _hip _we're talking about it," Sophie continued to glare at him.

"Yeah but- Oh," Howl pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ok, I see your point." He turned around, "Here I'll turn around and you can guide my hand to wear its hurt."

Sophie wanted to say no, but the pain really was getting quite bad. And it could be getting infected as far as she knew.

"Fine, give me your hand," Sophie said standing up.

Sophie lifted the bottom part of her shirt and took Howl's hand. The fingertips started to glow green again.

Sophie took a sharp intake of breath as his fingers brushed against the bruise. Just touching the tender skin caused her to wince. Howl heard her and thought, _Does it really hurt that badly? _With averted eyes he took a small peek at the wound. He made sure not to make a noise as he looked away again. The injury was really quite bad. It was dark purple, light purple, green tinged, and yellow bordering the whole design.

_God that looks painful. _He felt her move his hand along the top of the wound and felt a rib. _Wow, Is she really thin enough that I can _feel _a rib just by brushing it with my fingertips? _He again looked back at her and saw her bottom rib jutting sharply against her skin. It was way to visible for an adult.

"Sophie, have you been eating properly?" He asked.

"Not really. My parents blow off all their money on booze and never really think that I might actually need to eat. Why?"

"Cause I felt your rib. No one your age should be that thin."

Sophie just sighed as a response.

_Looks like someone is definitely having a HUGE breakfast later._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Umm, Howl, is this really necessary?" asked Sophie looking skeptically at the whole banquet lay in front of her. Eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, pastries, etc. lined the table. Almost every type of breakfast food was on the table. It was weird. What she didn't get was how he had enough time to make a buffet style breakfast but apparently not enough time to clean up the house.

"Yes it is," He said smirking.

Sophie picked up a strip of bacon and said, "You know, I'm a vegetarian." She put it back down looking disgustedly at the meat.

He raised an eyebrow, "A what?"

"Oh come on, there has to be _some _vegetarians now."

"What are they?"

Sophie sighed face palming herself at the same time, "They are people who don't eat any kind of meat including fish."

"Why would people do that?" Howl asked confused.

"Because it's inhumane! You're eating a living thing!" She preached.

Howl thought about this for a second_. I guess she has a point. _"Well, then just don't eat that, but you have to eat everything else."

Sophie sighed and started to wade through the food with a fork. She stored her plate with eggs, some toast, a few pancakes, some strawberries, and a few pastries. Howl went to the sink to get a cup of water for her, and nearly dropped it when he saw that Sophie was already down and loading her plate with seconds.

"How are you that hungry?" He asked amused.

"Murfhg," Sophie still had food in her mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. By the way, where's Markl?"

"Oh he's out buying some fish,"

At that moment a windswept Markl in a cloak with a beard half missing.

"Howl, we have a problem."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"What's wrong?" Asked Howl, I could clearly see concern on his face.

"The Witch of The Waste is out there!" Markl nearly shrieked.

Howl's face paled, and I felt the blood rush out of my own face. _Oh good lord . . ._

"Where is she?" Howl's shoulders tensed up a bit.

"She's down at the dock. I saw her henchmen, and then she herself! We need to do something. She's coming this way!"

Howl thought about this for a second, "We have a few options, One run," He looked a little disgusted at this option, "Two fight," He looked nervous at this one, "Or three . . ."

"Not do anything. She may not even come this way." I offered.

Howl stared at me, "I never thought of that. Markl, are you sure it wasn't just a coincidence that she came this way?"

"Of course no-" He paused, "Maybe, I mean there was a wrecked warship in the harbor . . ."

"That's a pretty important piece of information to forget to mention." Howl was now slightly glaring at Markl. Though it was good spirited with a slight mix of seriousness.

"Sorry Master Howl…." He mumbled.

Howl ruffled his hair forgivingly, "Don't worry, we all make mistakes… But there still is the possible that she's coming…" He paused, "I have an idea." He went to one of the cupboards and grabbed a crystal ball.

"What are you-" He shushed me. He sat down on the table and cleared away a spot and put down the crystal ball. His hands had a blue light surrounding them all of the sudden and he cupped the glass. He released it and then looked into it. I did the same and was shocked to see objects beginning to form. As the shapes in the crystal became more evident, I was beginning to realize that it looked like a sort of carriage, and too men moving it. _It's the witch of the waste!_

The background became clear as well and it seemed to be a path leaving Porthaven, "Ah thank goodness," Howl exclaimed relief soaking his words, "She's leaving Porthaven. And by the looks of it, she's headed towards Kingsbury. That should take at least a few days to get there."

He picked up the crystal ball and started to put it away, "What was that?" I asked.

"Scrying. It's a magic art that lets you see in other places."

"That must be useful," I said and was rewarded a chuckle from Howl.

"Yes I suppose it is . . . By the way Sophie, did you want to take a shower?"

At that moment it dawned to me that I hadn't taken a shower since yesterday morning, and I had gym class yesterday. Lets just say at my school, gym class is a huge work out.

"That would be nice . . ."

"Ok, it's upstairs to the last door to the left," He had a smirk on his face so I knew he was up to something. It's probably not _that _bad, I decided. I went up stairs and went into the bathroom. _Oh good lord, _Was my initial thought when I went up into the bathroom.

"HOWL GET UP HERE!" I yelled angerly.

I heard Howl walk up the stairs and come into the bathroom. I stood there arms crossed with a look of disgust on my face. He, however, just looked confused.

"What's wrong?"

"THIS PLACE IS A PIG STY!" It really was. There was dirt and grime all over the floor and walls, the bathtub and toilet were discolored (actually multicolored), and the mirror, if that's what it was, was covered in finger prints and dirt.

"Your point being?"

"Clean. It. Up. You can't just make a place super messy and then never clean it up." **(A/N I'm soooo not one to talk. lol.) **I threw my arms out to show how exasperated I was.

"Ummmm Sophie the-" He had a baffled expression at that moment which I kind of ignored.

" I don't care if you don't now how to clean I'm sure that you could use your magic or something."

"Sophie turn-"

"And another thing, if you're going to-"

"Sophie! Turn around!" He practically shouted.

I rolled my eyes and turned around. My jaw fell. The bathroom was sparkly clean.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Now I know I said that you could use magic, but you won't learn anything if you-"

"Sophie I didn't do this."

"WHAT?" I was now irritated, "Oh ok then, who was it? The Easter Bunny?"

"You did it," He said matter of factly.

"Excuse me?" Was he trying to purposely confuse me?

"While you were talking, cleaning supplies came out of no where and cleaned up the room. And I sensed that it was your magic."

"But I have no idea how to use magic!" I was now EXTREMELY confused.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm, I think I know what it is. You're a natural witch."

"Which means?"

"You can do magic naturally. It just comes to you," He looked a little envious, "You don't have to go through extensive training to become good it at. Albeit you'll probably need _some _training if you want-"

"Howl, as much as I'd _love _to learn about magic," (only slightly sarcastic) "I kind of want to take a bath now."

"Oh my goodness!" He said walking past me into the bathroom.

"What?" I was really starting to get annoyed with him.

"We have a shower in here!" He said patting the shower glass.

"There is now way it was _that _dirty."

"You'd be surprised."

"You know what. I'm actually not surprised you just discovered the shower in here. NOW GET OUT!"

"Okay, Okay, but you might want this," He handed me a bottle of shampoo.

"Um, ok…" I grabbed it and looked at what it said. _Lavender eh?_ "Um thanks,"

"No problem," He had a slightly smug grin on his face for some reason. I disregarded it and started to fill up the bath with water when he left.

I was now soaking peacefully in the bathtub. _Ahhhh. This was long over do._

I massaged some shampoo into my hair. It smelled really nice. I sank back into the water and closed my eyes.

"I wonder how much time we have till-" Markl started.

"HOWL! YOU FUCKING SHIT BAG!"

"There's your answer," Howl replied.

"Boy are you in for it." Calcifer added.

Sophie came running down the stairs in only a towel.

"How could you fucking give me shampoo with fucking hair dye in it?"

Sophie's normally lavender hair was now her natural color, black.

"Oh relax. You can't keep having purple hair in this world, it's way to conspicuous."

"SO YOU DYE IT WITHOUT TELLING ME!" Sophie screamed, then she sat down on the stool, "My individuality is slipping…"

The room started to tremble and random shadows appeared out of nowhere. Sophie suddenly went rigid.

"Oh crap!" Howl smacked his forehead, "She's a witch."

"So?" asked Markl.

Green slime started oozing from her skin. Her eyes were wide open but unseeing. She seemed, and probably was, asleep with her eyes wide open.

"Oh…" Markl sighed at the mess they would have to clean.


	8. Hiatus Notice! Please Read

Hiatus Notice:

Hey everybody!

I'm really sorry that I haven't updated yet in a while. And I honestly want to it's just that I have this stupid social studies project. It's basically a 20 minute oral presentation that must be memorized. I really don't have time to work on my fanfics because I have to memorize my script for it. (Did I mention it's ten pages long?) So I'm going on Hiatus. Hopefully I'll present rather early.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I woke up feeling groggy. I opened my eyes and saw everything was a little blurry. I also had a splitting headache. When my vision cleared, I noticed, one, that my hair was black (that reminded me of what had happened), and two that I was in a room I vaguely recognized. It was extremely cluttered, and seemed to have toys and other objects I couldn't identify.

"I see you're awake." I turned my head slightly over to see Howl sitting on a stool right next to me.

"Howl?" My voice sounded scratchy.

"Yes?"

"Why am I in your room?" (I just remembered why I recognized the room.)

"Well, the slime you caused got into your room and it covered the floor and bed. So I put you in here."

"I'm sorry, even though it was your fault for dying my hair in the first place."

"Well, I had too! If you ever left the castle, you'd stick out like a sour thumb."

"Whatever…" I was too tired to argue. Then I noticed what I was wearing.

"Wait a minute… How am I wearing a nightgown?" I looked at him curiously.

"Well I ended up having to give you bath…"

"YOU WHAT?" I looked at him horrified. My face turned as red as tomato, "So you saw me . . ."

I promptly fainted when he nodded his head

Howl chuckled. _Well, I didn't expect her to faint… _Suddenly her hair started to glow green and her hair length increased till it reached her waist. His face formed a frown.

_Uh oh. Didn't mean to do that. _

Sophie's eyes fluttered open. "Welcome back."

She shot up from the bed, "Howl, I…." She paused for a second, looked down at her hair and her eyes widened.

"My hair… YOU GREW MY HAIR?"

"Well that was an accident . . ."

"Get. Me. Scissors. Now."

"Okay, Sophie, maybe having long hair isn't such a bad thing."

"…?"

"In this world, most women have long hair. People may find it odd that you have long hair."

"I. Don't. Care."

Howl sighed. "Okay here are pair of scissors." He poofed a pair of scissors from thin air and handed them to her.

She got out of the bed and Howl couldn't help noticing how nice the dress looked on her. It accented her curves nicely. Her long brown colored hair also gave her more of an angelic look combined with the long flowing white dress. _It would be a shame to cut it…_

I walked towards the sole mirror in the room. I could feel the weight of my hair as I walked, and it was really weird. I've had my hair short for five years now and it was odd to have it long after so long.

I brought the scissors up to my hair and was about to cut the strand when I felt a slightly calloused hand, grip my hand with the scissors. Another hand rested gently on my hip. I felt Howl's breath tickle my ear as he whispered into my ear, "You should keep it this length. I think it looks nice on you."

He was standing very close to me. I could feel his chest rising and falling against my back. It felt weird having someone so close to me. I've never been in a relationship. I'd never even kissed someone! I know it's ridiculous. I'm 18 and I've never had my first kiss.

I let the scissors drop from my hand. He seemed a little surprised. However what he did next _really_ surprised me. He kissed my neck, then my jawbone, and finally my cheek. "Thank you Sophie." He whispered.

I'm not really sure why he wants me to have long hair so badly, but I figured I might as well give it a shot.

I leaned back into Howl. His arms encircled my waist and he held me tight. It was really quite nice. I've never felt anything like this.

Of course, someone had to ruin the moment and knock on the door.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Howl and I immediately broke apart. I was turning as red as a tomato as Howl opened the door, and lo and behold Markl was the one who had ruined the moment.

"Master Howl! Another invitation came from Madam Sulliman," Howl visibly winced, "She says that if you don't come today, she'll have you arrested!"

"Ok thank you Markl. I'll figure out what to do in a second. Now you go run along and . . . um . . . practice a spell. Yes! Practice a spell."

Markl raised an eyebrow but then left.

"Howl what are you going to do?" I asked concerned.

"I'm not sure. But don't worry," He caressed my face with both his hands, "I'll figure it out. You shouldn't wear yourself out, you'll still be tired after the whole slime episode."

For some reason I felt soothed from his touch, "Well I-I guess i-if you say s-so . . ." Then I scolded myself for getting flustered like a school girl, "Still! This isn't good!" I pulled away from him, "You have to figure out what to do! You have to be there has two different people!"

Howl sighed, "Sophie-"

"No! Don't 'Sophie' me! This is a serious problem. You have to figure out what to do or . . ." I trailed off as his arms wrapped around me.

Howl whispered into my ear, "I have an idea, so relax for once."

I felt like putty in his arms. I leaned against his chest, and sighed, "Ok, ok. What's the plan?"

"I cannot believe I agreed to this."

"Sophie."

"This is humiliating."

"Not it's not. That dress looks gorgeous on you."

"But it's PINK!"

"Well, that I can fix. How's blue?"

" . . ."

"Red?"

" . . ."

"Fine. I'll make it black, but only because you're so adorable."

Sophie blushed. Well, Howl's plan was similar to the movie basically. She was going to go to Madam Sulliman, but as his sister. Sophie had to wear something that would fit that time/place so Howl had bought her a lovely pink dress. It had a longish layered skirt, and was tight around her curves. It also had a HUGE bow in the back. Sophie felt ridiculous it and refused to leave the house. But, after turning it black and Howl reassuring her for the umpteenth time that she looked fine, she left.

The plan was simple: Go to the castle, hope the Wicked Witch Of The Waste doesn't interfere, see Madam Sulliman, and convince her release the oath.

Simple when said, complicated when done.

**I'm a horrible horrible person…. I should've updated long ago. I'm just soooo busy. I'M SORRY! I'll try to update more regularly from now on. **


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